Bias cutter control means



FIPTQM OR 2'238303 SEARCH ROOM April l5, 1941. B, J, SEH-MAN 2,238,303

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BIA

SLAHCH NUDI` S GUTTER CONTROL MEANS Filed Feb. 10, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 o l2 E@ 4 o /f 5935 l /G www LW I glu/WMM, efnara/de/man www gratulieren PUNcmNs UNITED tAHlli-l HUOM STATES PATENT OFFICE BIAS CUTTER CONTROL MEANS Bernard J. Beitman, Akron, Ohio, assignor to Wingfoot Corporation, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application February l0, 1939, Serial No. 255,709

9 Claims.

This invention relates to sheetor web-cutting machines and more particularly to machines for cutting relatively narrow strips from comparatively long lengths of fabric or like sheets of material, and upon which the strips may be cut straight across the sheet or on the bias.

In this invention I have, for illustrative purposes, but not in a limited sense, illustrated a conventional well-known form of machine known as a vertical bias cutter.

In machines of this type the sheet to be cut is suspended in a vertical plane between two members which serve as a clamp to hold the sheet in a positive grip while being cut. The sheet is advanced the desired amount by a feed roller and then permitted to drop by gravity between the clamping members. When the sheet is properly clamped and the knife has made its cut the strip which has been cut off is carried away and the edge of the sheet from which the strip has been cut remains between the clamping members adjacent the portion above the cutting line of the knife. This edge portion of the sheet serves as a pilot for the sheet being cut when it drops between the clamping members in the desired position for the next cut and tends to keep the sheet in its proper course.

Various kinds of sheet material, such as rubber-coated fabric or other material used in the manufacture of automobile tires, belts, hose, etc., having a tacky surface, sometimes stick to the clamping members, which prevents the sheet material from dropping through the clamping members in the proper manner, when the sheet material sticks to the clamp and drops partially through a miscu-t is then made resulting in waste. Also when it does not pass through at all it bunches up into a tangled mass. This situation has to come to 4the attention of the operator who is called upon to stop the machine by operating a lever to cut off the power. It sometimes happens that the operator is so engaged with some other duty that he is unable to notice this abnormal condition until several yards of fabric have been miscut or damaged to such an extent that it becomes useless for the purpose intended, resulting in costly waste of the material.

Another cause for miscuts and waste lies in the fact that, due to unavoidable air currents or frictional contact with members of the machine, the sheet material will wave out of its normal plane in spite of the fact that guides are present to prevent it from doing so.

An object of this invention is to prevent miscuts and waste by stopping the operation of the machine the moment the sheet material is out of line, and before the knife is actuated to make the cut. This is accomplished through the use of an electric-eye mechanism in which a beam of light is cast on an electric eye adjacent the surface of the sheet material at the part at which it is to be cut. Any waving or buckling of the sheet will interrupt the beam of light to the photo-electric cell. 'I'he diminishing of the amount of light falling on the photo-electric cell will then function to operate the necessary relays, which, in turn, will energize a solenoid to disengage a friction clutch and stop the machine. The sheet material can then be straightened out and put in the proper position. The light beam will then be re-established to the photo-electric cell which will release energy to the solenoid and allow continuation of the operation of the machine.

The advantages of this invention will be apparent from the foregoing and in the following description when taken in connection with the drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig, 1 illustrates a front elevation of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a section through the clamping member showing how sheet material will Wave out of line;

Fig. 3 is a wiring diagram, and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation with some of the clamping bar parts omitted.

The machine which I have illustrated and to which my invention is applicable is known in the art as a bias cutter and is comprised of a frame I0, at the top of which is mounted a feed roll Il, over which a sheet of material I2 is fed vertically downward to a clamping mechanism indicated generally by the numeral I4 which is attached to the frame l0 and diagonal thereto to permit the sheet to be cut on the bias. The material l2 is taken from a roll 69 mounted upon a support 1l. The clamping mechanism is composed of a stationary membel I5 and a movable member I6 which moves toward and away from the member I5 and is thus actuated through the medium of a rack I1 mounted on the bottom thereof and sector gears I8 mounted on a shaft IS which is periodically actuated in a manner to be described later.

The feed roll Il has internal ratchet teeth 12 thereon, engaged by and driven by pawls 13 carried by shaft 14 which is rocked back and forth by the action of rack 15 engaging pinion 16 on shaft 14. The rack 15 is formed on fthe end of the vertically reciprocating rod 11, which is in turn reciprocated by an arm 18 mounted on the shaft 32a and the pitman 80 connected to the arm 18Q and rod 11. Thus on each upward movement'-of .the rod 11 the feed roll is advanced a predetermined amount which can be varied by adjustably mounting the pin 8| on arm 18 so that it may be moved varying distances from the shaft 19.

The movable member I is provided with a slideway 20 in which a block 2| carrying the knife 22 is mounted. This block 2| is actuated by a cable 23 guided over the sheaves 24, 25, 25a, 26 and 26a by means of a suit-able driving mechanism, the sheave 24 will rotate clockwise a sufcient amount -to draw the sliding block 2| upwardly whereby to permit the knife 22 to sever a strip 21 from the sheet material |2. Then through suitable reversing mechanism the block 2| carrying the knife 22 is returned to its starting position.

The motor 3|) drives the gear 3| through the intermediacy of a pinion 3|a on the motor shaft. The gear 3| is mounted on shaft (not shown) connected to the inner member of clutch 33 and rotating in the hollow rotatable shaft 33a, also connected to clutch 33. The gear 32 on the shaft 32a is driven from a pinion 30a on hollow shaft 33a. Thus the gear 32 and shaft 32a are driven only when the clutch 33 is operative.

The reversing mechanism is as follows. The cable 23 makes at least one turn about the large sheave 24 and the sheave is oscillated to actuate the cable back and forth in the following manner: a gear 82 is rocked by a rack 83 which in turn is reciprocated by a pitman 84 connected to a pin 85 on the side of gear 32.

The shaft |9 is periodically rocked to cause a clamping of the material I2 in the following manner. A rack 86 is carried on the end of an axially slidable shaft 81 and engages a sector gear 88 on the shaft |9. The shaft carries a fixed collar 89 and a slidable collar 90 between which is arranged a spring 9| to yieldingly urge collar 89 and shaft 81 to the right. Toggles 92 normally urge the collar 90 to the right to cause the shaft 81 to move in that direction to bring clamping members I5 and |6 together. To release the clamp the toggles 92 are moved angularly to each other by a downward pull on a rod 93 actuated by a cam slit 94 in gear 32, in which a roller mounted on arm 95 pivoted to the frame rides.

It will be noted that the gear 32 actuates the knife and, since this is driven through the clutch 33, the knife will stop when the clutch is thrown out.

It frequently happens that when a sheet of material is advanced by the feed mechanism to the clamp, the edge of the web |2 will stick to the clamp, or, due to static, air currents or other causes will wave out of its normal plane. This causes the sheet material to bunch up at the clamp mechanism, resulting in miscuts or other damage to same. The above-mentioned hazards have been eliminated in the following manner.

Mounted on the lower end of the stationary member i5 there is provided a light-sensitive cell 35 and on the upper end and in true alinement therewith a light cell 36, both of these cells being so mounted that a beam of light, indicated by the broken line 31, from the light cell 36, will be projected across the face of the sheet material |2 and onto the light-sensitive cell 35. When the sheet material buckles or otherwise interrupts the beam of light as in Fig. 2 the mechanism of the light-sensitive cell will act through a sensitive control means and contactor coil upon a solenoid which in turn operates a clutch lever disconnecting the power which operates the machine and brings same to a stop, whereupon the difficulty may be straightened out and the operation of the machine proceed.

The mechanism controlled by the photo-electric or light-sensitive cell will be described as follows:

Referring to Fig. 3 and only by way of example, there is shown a source of power comprising a 440 volt line 40, 4| connected as desired through a switch 42 and line 43, 44 to a transformer 45 where the voltage is transformed from 440 volts to volts. Lines 46 and 41 lead from transformer 45 to another transformer 48 where the voltage is transformed from 110 volts to 6 volts. This 6 volt circuit supplies current to the light cell 36 through the lines 49 and 5|). The lines 52 and 53 lead from transformer 45 to a sensitivity control panel 54, which in turn is connected to the light-sensitive cell 35 through the lines 55 and 56. From the sensitivity-control panel 54 lines 51 and 58 extend to a contactor coil 59, then through the lines 60 and 6| to a solenoid 62, which, when energized, operates the lever 63 which disengages the clutch 33 to stop the machine. The double-armed lever 10 may be used to manually engage and disengage the clutch 33 as desired. The operation is as follows. When the sheet material |2 folds or becomes piled up over the clamping mechanism |4 the light beam 31 will be interrupted, the light-sensitive or photo-electric cell will act upon the sensitivity control 54, which in turn closes the contactor coil contacts. This energizes the solenoid 62, which in turn actuates the clutch lever 63 to disengage same and stop the machine. When the sheet material is placed in the proper position the operator manually engages the clutch -by lever 1|) and the cutting operation may be resumed.

It will of course be understood that the lightsensitive cell and the light cell are not of themselves new and may be of any desired types and styles, but their particular novel application for the purposes set forth is the essence of this invention.

Although there is herein illustrated and described one embodiment to which my invention is applicable, itwill be understood that various changes or modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a bias cutter the combination with a sheet-feeding means for advancing said sheet material, a sheet-severing means for severing said sheet material after it has advanced a certain distance, means for actuating said severing means and means comprising a clutch for connecting and disconnecting said severing means and said actuating means, an electric eye mechanism for detecting when the sheet is improperly positioned to be cut and a solenoid operated by said electric eye mechanism and connected to said device for preventing actuation thereof when a portion of the sheet material moves appreciably out of its normal plane.

2 In a web-cutting machine the combination with a web-feeding means for periodically ad- Tic- 4, cuTTmafc SHEETS A.

vancing e web material a predetermined amount, a Web-severing means, means for actuating said Web-feeding means, power-actuating meansa clutch for connecting and disconnecting said web-severing means and said power-actuated means, and a light-sensitive means for automatically disconnecting said clutch when a portion of the web departs from its normal path.

3. In a web-cutting machine the combination with a Web-feeding means for periodically advancing the web material a predetermined amount, a web-clamping means, a web-severing means, power means for actuating said severing means, a clutch for connecting web-severing means with said power means, a clutch lever for operating said clutch, a solenoid for actuating said clutch lever to disconnect said clutch and power means, and a power circuit including a light-sensitive mechanism to automatically disconnect the clutch and thus prevent operation of the severing means when the web material is in an improper position to be cut.

4. In a machine for cutting strips from a sheet of material, the combination with a sheet-feeding means, a sheet-clamping means, a sheetsev` ering means, means for actuating said feeding, clamping and severing means, means for connecting said feeding, clamping and severing means with a source of power, a light-sensitive mechanism including a light-sensitive cell and a source of light, automatically actuated by the material when in improper position to prevent said feeding, clamping and severing means from functioning.

5. In a sheet-cutting machine in combination with a sheet-feeding means, a clamping means and means for cutting said sheet after it has been advanced a determinate amount, a motor, a clutch for connecting said motor to said cutting means, automatic means for disengaging said clutch comprising a solenoid, a light-sensitive cell and a source of light in alinement therewith and capable of casting a pencil of light thereto, said source of light being so arranged as to cast a pencil of light across the face of the sheet and closely adjacent the line at which the sheet material is to be severed, whereby when the sheet material departs appreciably from its normal path and interrupts the pencil of light said solenoid will be energized and will disengage the clutch and prevent actuation of the severing mechanism.

6. A fabric-cutting machine comprising means for supporting a roll of fabric, means for intermittently advancing the fabric in said roll along a fixed path a predetermined amount on each advance of said material, a knife normally actuated after completion of the advance of said material to cut said material after each advance,

means for actuating said knife, and means controlled by the portion of the material adjacent the knife to prevent actuation of said knife after completion of any particular advance of the material if the material does not lie in its normal plane.

7. A fabric-cutting machine comprising means for supporting a roll of fabric, means for intermittently advancing the fabric in said roll along a fixed path a predetermined amount on each advance of said material, a knife normally actuated after completion of the advance of said material to cut said material after each advance, means for actuating said knife, and means controlled by the portion of the material adjacent the knife to prevent actuation of saidknife after completion of any particular advance of the material if the material does not lie in its normal plane, said last-mentioned means comprising a light source arranged to project a beam of light across the material close to and substantially parallel to the surface thereof, and a photo-electric cell in the path of said beam and operatively connected to said knife-actuating means for preventing actuation of said knife-actuating means if the beam of light from said light source is interrupted.

8. A bias cutter comprising means for supporting a roll of fabric, means for intermittently advancing the fabric in said roll along a fixed path a predetermined amount on each advance of said material, a knife normally actuated after completion of the advance of said material to cut said material on the bias, means for actuating said knife, and means controlled by the portion of the material adjacent the path of the knife to prevent actuation of said knife after completion of any particular advance of the material if the material does not lie in its normal plane.

9. A bias cutter comprising means for supporting a roll of fabric, means for intermittently advancing the fabric in said roll along a xed path a predetermined amount on each advance of said material, a knife normally actuated after completion of the advance of said material to cut said material on the bias, means for actuating said knife, and means controlled by the portion of the material adjacent the path of the knife to prevent actuation of said knife after completion of any particular advance of the material if the material does not lie in its normal plane, said lastmentioned means comprising a light source arranged to project a beam of light across the material close to and substantially parallel to the surface thereof, and a photo-electric cell in the path of said beam and operatively connected to said knife-actuating means for preventing actuation of said knife-actuating means if the beam of light from said light source is interrupted.

BERNARD J. BEITMAN. 

